take place 是不是有时候也表示happen的意思..?

(1). take place 表示“发生、举行、举办”，一般指非偶然性事件的“发生”，即这种事件的发生一定有某种原因或事先的安排，例如：

Great changes have taken place in our hometown during the past ten years.

The Olympic Games of 2008 will take place in Beijing.

(2) .happen作“发生、碰巧”解，一般用于偶然或突发性事件，例如：

What happened to you? (一般不说：What did you happen?)

Maybe something unexpected happened.

I happened to see him on my way home.

= It happened that I saw him on my way home.

不要死扣，take palce是一般的发生，并不是说是偶然的事就不能给你用。而happen只是侧重于偶然，并非是说一定要偶然的事。
关键要看说话人的意图是什么。
而An fatal accident took place at this cross three years ago.并没有这层意思。
再看这句，The fatal accident happened at the moment I got to that street.
呵呵，很简单吧！

这么简单你还没看出来？
An fatal accident took place at this cross three years ago.
没错是不能预料，不过这句话说出时指的是3年前，意思是陈述3年前的一个事实，那你说这是不是要预料呢？
The stroy took place in a small village
这句也是一个道理。陈述一个过去的事物。

固定词组take place意为发生，举行，多指举行活动，发生某事（可指发生好事